“Does a residential address matter when chasing the dream to become a professional footballer? Talent discovery in football.

Abstract

Background: As talent development research has directed more attention towards the athlete’s environment, more studies have been requested to encompass development in different contexts (e.g., countries).

Purpose: Therefore, the purpose of the present study was to a) investigate the presence of the Birthplace effect in the Norwegian football context, and b) examine experiences of playing football in “unsuccessful” developmental environments in Norwegian football clubs.

Method: Thus, a mixed method design was applied, where study 1 consisted of a descriptive survey design with a retrospective approach looking at the backgrounds of regional talent squad players from the last five years, whereas study 2 implemented a qualitative approach to examine developmental environments of football clubs located in rural areas.

Results: The results from study 1 showed that most selected talent squad players originated from environments with a population between 2000 – 19 999 inhabitants, while study 2 indicated that playing football in rural areas mostly consist of play activities and self-practice, as high-quality practice seems hard to provide.

Conclusion: In conclusion, talented youths from smaller places might have a harder time being identified by the NFF, which make them more dependent on enthusiastic adults (e.g., parents, coaches). Further, certain environments do provide better developmental opportunities which might explain why footballers are capable of realising their potential.